Sixty!

Proceedings looked good for another check of the ivy this evening if the Red-Green Carpet on the bathroom ceiling and Mallow on the kitchen window were anything to go by.

I invited a friend along who had an expressed an interest and after half-an-hour was beginning to wish I hadn't, as all we had to show for it was a single Angle Shades. Things picked up a little as we turned the corner and worked the lee side, with the first of three Yellow-line Quakers.

Salvation came in the form of the first Satellite of the season, which was also the sixtieth species of moth we have recorded on ivy in Stutton this year.

I reckon the 50mm+ of rain we have had over the last couple of days has wiped the slate clean. There is talk of another warm spell at the weekend which may liven things up again for one last time. Still no Merveille du Jour...

Windy but worth it

Very mild this evening, but the wind was blowing up to Force 4 along the exposed stretch that I was checking. The moths, like any sensible creature, were mostly feeding on the lee side. Just 13 moths in total, but ten species, with three new for the season - Red-line Quaker, Green-brindled Crescent and Chestnut. I say three, but it could be four. I photographed this one, but was unable to pot it up and my initial thought was that it was a Dark Chestnut. Thoughts welcome.

This was the first Red-line Quaker of the season...

..and the second Grey Shoulder-Knot.

The very fresh Green-brindled Crescent is in the fridge awaiting photography tomorrow.

And the record falls

Only the second "breath-frosting" night of the ivy league season tonight and a moon almost full, veiled by thin cloud. Less than ideal conditions, but at least it was calm and I hadn't been out since the 28th. There was an Angle Shades on my ivy in the front garden, so that boded well as I headed off down the lane towards the church.

In a little over an hour, I noted 27 moths of 12 species, with three new for the season. That takes the total in twenty visits since the 20th August to 55 species, taking us past last year's effort of 53. We are well on target to get to sixty, but I would settle for 54 mind, if that was a Merveille du Jour!

Totals as follows:

Angle Shades - 6
Common Marbled Carpet - 3
Grey Shoulder-knot - 1
Lunar Underwing - 5
Yellow-line Quaker - 1
Dusky-lemon Sallow - 1
Square-spot Rustic - 2
Brick - 4
Large Yellow Underwing - 1
Beaded Chestnut - 1
Deep-brown Dart - 1
L-album Wainscot - 1

 Common Marbled Carpet

Brick

Angle Shades

Night time macro photography for beginners

I am a terrible photographer. I bought a bridge camera last year and until this week I have reserved the right to keep the settings on 'auto'. The results have been so mediocre, that I had been resorting to using my smartphone instead.

However, last week, I dusted off the cheap (less than £20) ring-flash I had bought a few months ago and decided to give it a try whilst out recording moths on ivy. Here's a Large Yellow Underwing taken on auto setting as an example:

On Wednesday, I invited Steve Plume to join Tony and I to see what he could manage. His ring-flash rig cost a little short of £500! He gave me a few handy hints about various settings (which for a change I actually understood). His snort of derision when he saw the 'auto' setting said it all. Here are a couple of images post-5 minute masterclass

Angle Shades 

 Straw Dot

Brimstone (moth)

I have also started using the ring-flash during the day to erase that shadowing effect you often get. I was pleased with this Dusky-Lemon Sallow (on auto),

whilst this unusually marked Oak Nycteoline was taken after Steve had advised:

Ivy League - season three

"Everything is early this year" is the naturalists refrain, in complete contrast to last year - remember the non-existent spring?

Tonight was the fifth night the Stutton Moth Group (membership of two) had roamed the lanes checking the ivy flowers since the 20th August. Last year the flowering didn't start until the 12th September.
With flowering so early, we have been picking up a few late summer species, but the commonest three remain Large Yellow Underwing,  Square-spot Rustic and Angle Shades.  Intriguingly, Flounced Rustic, which would be verging on abundant in the moth trap,  is a species we have never recorded on ivy.

Last year we recorded 53 species around the village on ivy, so far this season we are on 28. New species tonight were Small Dusty Wave and a tatty Cloaked Minor. If we continue along these lines we should break the 60 barrier.

This really highlights how import ivy is as a nectar source for moths. By day, a seemingly endless stream of invertebrates descend on their flowers and this carries on at night. 

Slivers of gold and a dessicated weasel

What a glorious day Thursday was. A blue sky, strewn with high clouds, flat calm and a t-shirt temperature. Good enough for a picnic with the family down at Stutton Ness.

Birds were going to be a bit of a side issue. I had my bird fix earlier in the morning with a summer-plumaged Slavonian Grebe in Holbrook Bay and my first Willow Warbler of the year near Stutton's very own Wolves Wood (not the RSPB one near Hadleigh).

Over the last couple of days, I have discovered a smart little moth Eriocrania subpurpurella.  It's a shiny little gold chap, the larvae of which mine oak leaves. It is quite common, but understandably over-looked. Now I have seen it once, they keep popping up whenever I find myself under an oak tree with a bit of herbage around it for the males to lek on. Well that is what they seem to be doing when the sun is out. Some of the day-flying micros really do warrant a closer look.

Eriocrania subpurpurella (I think)

When we got down to Stutton Ness my attention was drawn to the bare soil at the base of a fallen oak. As part of my tentative steps towards learning a bit more about bees and wasps, this seemed a likely spot.

Sure enough, my instincts proved correct. There was a bee-fly charging around (with apologies for image quality - just a point and shoot job):

Bee-fly Bombylius major

I then noticed another aculeate that at times seemed to be taking an interesting in the bee-fly. The wasp-like abdominal pattern and dangling legs certainly made it stand out (queue even worse shot):

Bee-fly with unidentified admirer

The mystery insect eventually settled and I managed a couple of record shots. I should be very grateful if anyone can identify it.

Was'at?

On the way back we came across this shrivelled fellow on the path. 

as well as a Peacock:

and a Blackcap:

And so it begins.

It has been very rewarding to see the increase in moths gracing the trap since the vice-Chairman of S.Mo.G. gave me his spare 30w actinic bulb. I had three Red Chestnut in the trap this morning (my only previous garden record was a single specimen on the 31 March 2012) and the first Muslin Moth of the year too.

But then comes the pitfall - or challenging identifications if you prefer, with an increase in Pugs. I can cope with Double-striped Pugs and Brindled Pugs (I think), but when you get half-a-dozen seemingly variable ones, a few doubts begin to surface. So by the powers of the internet, it is over to you to see what you think. All Brindled?

The full species list follows:

Common Quaker 64

Small Quaker 2

Hebrew Character 12

Clouded Drab 7

Early Grey 1

Twin-spotted Quaker 1

Double-striped Pug - 3

Chestnut 1

Pale Mottled Willow 1

E. postvittana 1

Red Chestnut 3

Garden Carpet 1

Muslin Moth 1

plus those pugs.